Match of the Day had an incredibly awkward opening on Saturday night as the show was forced to go straight into the first game without credits – after no presenter or pundits were willing to appear on the show.
The BBC said ahead of the programme commencing: "We’re sorry we’re unable to show our normal Match of the Day including commentary tonight, but here are the day’s matches." The coverage went straight into highlights of Bournemouth's victory over Liverpool - without any commentary.
It comes after the BBC decision to suspend Gary Lineker, the popular host of the show, after the former striker described the UK government's new Migration Bill as "beyond awful" and that the language used was "not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s."
The corporation’s decision caused an unprecedented chain of events, as many of Lineker’s colleagues opted to stand in solidarity with him and refuse to appear on the show until the former England international was reinstated.
Such was the backlash against the BBC’s decision, Saturday night’s Match of the Day programme was forced to be scaled back into a 20-minute highlights show with no presenter, pundits or commentary after many people who normally work on the show refused to appear.
Ian Wright – who was scheduled to work on Saturday’s programme – was the first pundit on Friday to declare he would not appear on the programme, before fellow pundit Alan Shearer quickly followed suit. That preceded the commentary team, en mass, declaring that they would not be involved with Saturday’s show.
Earlier on Saturday, BBC director general Tim Davie felt compelled to issue a grovelling apology for the fact that the corporation’s football schedule throughout the day had been decimated, and highlighted the fact that they were trying to resolve the situation.
Have Your Say! What must the BBC do to rectify their stance over Lineker? Tell us what you think here.
"I’m sorry audiences have been affected and they haven’t got the programming," Davie told the BBC. "As a keen sports fan I know to miss programming is a real blow and I’m sorry about that. We are working very hard to resolve this situation and make sure we get output on air."
He added: "Everyone wants to calmly resolve situation. Gary Lineker’s the best in the business - that’s not for debate."
The BBC's original statement on Friday read: "The BBC has been in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in recent days. We have said that we consider his recent social media activity to be a breach of our guidelines.
"The BBC has decided that he will step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.
"When it comes to leading our football and sports coverage, Gary is second to none. We have never said that Gary should be an opinion free zone, or that he can’t have a view on issues that matter to him, but we have said that he should keep well away from taking sides on party political issues or political controversies."
